


Possession

by baeconandeggs, oraceon



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, Slavery, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:27:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6824965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/oraceon/pseuds/oraceon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the rest of the world collapses around him, Baekhyun holds on to the hope that some things will never change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possession

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this is a MAMMOTH. Anyway I apologize to the prompter for the lack of explicit dub!con, I really tried to write it but it all seemed off to me so I wrote Baekhyun struggling with his own internal dilemma instead. I hope that isn't disappointing to you! Thank you especially to A for supporting me through this, as well as the BaE mods who make this all possible <3 I hope you all enjoy!

**150906  
28 Days After Invasion**

 

The light pouring through the cell window fits between the gaps of his fingers and curls around them, giving his dry skin a sort of ethereal glow and dotting fireflies across the backs of his eyes. It's a grotesque light show, the dripping of rainwater down from the roof the only soundtrack.

 

He feels a sharp pain in the side of his gut where the soldier's boot connects with his stomach. Face dirtied by the grime of the prison floor and hair wispy from being pulled, Baekhyun is finally dragged out of the cell, sweat mixing with the blood dripping from the freshly reopened cut on his week old bruised lip. The tall guards hold onto his arms but give him no explanation. He's long since decided to save his breath.

 

They arrive at a room of spotless metal. A slender woman sits at a unnaturally white desk just off-centre, looking at him with unabashed disgust before turning away, tucking a strand of her jet black hair behind her ear. "Let him sit," she says without looking at any of them, standing up and washing her hands in the metallic basin in the corner of the room. "Why did you let him get in that state? Captain Park is not going to be happy with this."

 

Baekhyun stills. Of course, he already knows. He had seen him on the day it happened with his own eyes; but up until now, he had pushed it to the back of his mind, denial the only lifeline he still desperately clings onto. It seems that from now on he can't hold onto even that anymore.

 

 _Where is he_ , he wants to ask as the woman works on his injuries, healing him magically with featherweight touches against his flesh, but he doesn't. They will only let Baekhyun see him when they want to; he's just a human to them, and by default that means his desires are unimportant.

 

"Hmm, that'll do. You're lucky I'm here or otherwise Captain Park would've seen you and changed his mind." She laughs quietly, though it doesn't reach her eyes. Some younger girls arrive, lathering Baekhyun's naked skin with creams and powders, before lining his eyes with kohl and very lightly tinting his lips. Even a month ago, Baekhyun would have felt emasculated by this, but now it feels like a welcome change to his much harsher treatment.

 

The healer inspects him once over, checking his body for any blemishes left uncovered. When she sees none, she nods to the girls, who dress him in a silken white tunic and pressed slacks. After this she pushes a button, and two guards come in, albeit not the same ones as before, these ones in formal suits with handguns tucked in holsters, squeaky clean loafers soundless on squeaky clean tiles. "He's ready," she announces, tone bored, before adding, "Please don't rough him up again. You'll ruin our hard work."

 

He's allowed to walk on his own feet this time, but the guards stay close to each side of him, making sure his hands are crossed behind his back. The doors swing back by themselves as they approach, eventually reaching a different set, with marbled stone carvings adorning each side, that don't open automatically. One of the guards steps forward, speaking into a small glass orb to the left of the door, while the other keeps his eyes trained on Baekhyun. After a moment or two, the door opens soundlessly, revealing a room lined with velvet, satin sofas placed around an ornate table. The seats are filled with men and women who suddenly become quiet and there, in the middle of it all, sits the man he used to think he knew.

 

He looks the same, and somehow vastly different at the same time. His hair is red now, a deep ruby mixed with hints of fire embers; he is still as tall as before, but he walks towards Baekhyun without the slouch that used to feel so characteristic, now emitting power in place of friendliness. Baekhyun almost refuses to recognize him until his eyes glint in that way they always did, with his reflection in them crystal clear.

 

"I've been waiting for you, Baek," Chanyeol smiles.

 

**050322  
10 Years Before Invasion**

 

"Class! Please, pay attention!" Mrs Kim yells loudly at her eighth grade class. When they eventually settle down a little, she begins again. "Well as I was saying, class, we have a new addition to our school and to your form group." A tall, lanky boy peers into the classroom through the door, waving slightly. "Come out here and introduce yourself properly," the teacher gestures for him to enter.

 

He walks out to the front, and the rest of the students realize he's taller than the middle aged teacher already. A couple of girls exchange looks between each other, and the boys are already discussing recruiting him to the basketball team. The only one uninterested is Baekhyun, too busy flipping through his copy of the newest Starcraft strategy guide.

 

"Hi everyone," the newcomer begins, and his voice is at that point of puberty where it swerves between childlike and grown, but it's already noticeably deep. His ears stick out slightly from where his black hair lays down flat. "My name is Park Chanyeol. It's nice to meet you all."

 

Mrs Kim smiles at him warmly when he bows to her politely. "Thank you, Chanyeol. Kids, be sure to get to know him during your lunch break. Anyway, you're lucky because your first scheduled lesson for the day is free study. Take a seat wherever you'd like."

 

Chanyeol's eyes scan the room for a moment, until they fix on an empty seat. He bows again before making his way to it. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he asks, and Baekhyun just nods without looking. Chanyeol slides into the seat, and pulls out his own copy of a previous issue of the gaming magazine, catching Baekhyun's interest from the corner of his eye.

 

"You play Starcraft too?"

 

Chanyeol nods. "Yeah, I do. I see you have the new issue about the expansion. Me and my mom just moved here so I haven't got the subscription assigned to my new address yet, so I'm just rereading the old ones in the meantime."

 

Baekhyun stares at him likes he's grown a second head. "You can share my copy right now, if you want."

 

Chanyeol beams at him, and his teeth are all perfectly straight and shining white. "I'd like that, thanks. Chanyeol," he says extending a hand.

 

"Baekhyun, but you can call me Baek," the shorter replies, taking it.

 

**150907  
29 Days After Invasion**

 

"Sorry that ran a little late," Chanyeol yells from the other side of the bathroom door, as Baekhyun claws at his face to remove the makeup. "But we're home now. Our home. Do you like it?" When there's no reply, he lets out a tired breath. "Answer me, Baek."

 

"It's nice," comes the small human's rushed reply, before he opens the door. A muscular arm slanted across the doorway stops him from escaping easily, though.

 

"You look beautiful," Chanyeol says, admiring Baekhyun's now bare face. He moves to touch him, but frowns when Baekhyun flinches ever so slightly. "Are you afraid of me?" he asks. Baekhyun nods. "Have I ever injured you, Baek?" The shorter hesitates before shaking his head slightly. "Then why are you acting scared? Tell me." He tips Baekhyun's chin up so he's forced to look at him, and the shorter man's gaze is fearful but also betrayed.

 

"You're the only one who's acting," Baekhyun begins, shakily. "Ever since we met, you've lied to me. How do I even know you're telling the truth when you say you won't hurt me?"

 

Chanyeol caresses his cheek with a thumb, feels the human boy shiver under his touch. "I'm sorry for lying to you, but you've got to know it was my duty to my people. I'm sorry you got caught up in that, but now the truth is out. When I have no reason to lie, why would I? I'll never hurt you, Baekhyun; that's a promise." He stretches his fingers over the nape of Baekhyun's neck, and the shorter feels his heart ache with nostalgia.

 

"It's already too late for that, Master," he spits.

 

Chanyeol winces. "I told you not to call me that."

 

Baekhyun feels like laughing and crying all at the same time, but settles on a humourless scoff. "Why not? I'm your your slave, your toy, your pet at best. That's what they said at the Consul yesterday, is it not?"

 

He retreats into the wall as Chanyeol stalks towards him. "That is just on paper. You were a lot of things on paper back on Earth that we both know aren't true." He takes Baekhyun's hand in his, fiddles with the ring on his finger that matches his own; the insignia of the Phoenix marking absolute possession. "You are so much more than that to me, Baekhyun. You always have been."

 

The shorter male slips out of his grasp as soon as he can, rushing to the guest bedroom. Before he locks the door behind him, Chanyeol hears him say, "I wish I wasn't."

 

**150908  
30 Days After Invasion**

 

It's not until lunchtime the next morning when he sees Chanyeol next, despite not wanting to. Several different types of curry surround a bowl of plain rice on the table, and he surveys the room cautiously before advancing towards it.

 

Four cold fingers wrapped tightly around his wrist push him down into the chair. He thinks about standing up, but the anger in Chanyeol's eyes, now glaring at him from the opposite seat, has him frozen.

 

"You left me yesterday, Baekhyun. You didn't say goodnight, you went into the wrong room and then you had the audacity to slam the door on my face on top of all that."

 

Even staring at his plate Baekhyun can sense Chanyeol's infamous rage, something he didn't witness too often before the invasion, but was told to grow accustomed to now that the Essem had taken control and the man could show his "true self". He only nods, not trusting his voice to stay unwavering and firm.

 

Chanyeol dabs some rice in the curry, and places it in his mouth, along with a red hot pepper. He chews slowly, watching Baekhyun with a controlled expression, thinking as he eats. It's the first time Baekhyun has ever seen Chanyeol eat something spicy and stay composed. He wonders how much of his best friend had just been an act all along.

 

"You won't do that again. That's an order." He finishes his meal and stands abruptly, his suit pressed neatly into submission. A girl Baekhyun's never seen before emerges from seemingly nowhere and hands him his coat with her head bowed. "Baekhyun, this is Soojung. She's the maid and also a human. I expect you two will get to know each other well." He doesn't say anything else before he leaves the house, Soojung locking the dooe behind him, but then again, he's never been fond of goodbyes.

-

Once Baekhyun has finally managed to stomach the majority of the meal, he begins picking up the plates and dishes. The girl hurries over to him, trying to take the plates out of his hands, but he refuses. "I've got it, it's okay."

 

She still seems insistent. "Mr Park will be upset if he finds out you did any housework."

 

Baekhyun stares at her for a second, catching sight of the Phoenix's unmistakable mark on her otherwise plain stud earrings. There's a quiet beauty to the way she shakes a strand of hair out of her face, and her voice is low and soft, her stance reserved. He wonders whether she wants to do this, if she yearns for Chanyeol's attention like all the pretty girls did during high school, college, and his stomach turns until he catches a brief glimpse of a diamond ring on her ring finger, sans the emblem, and decides that no, she doesn't.

 

"Is Mr Park here?" He takes the plates back off her and, after a moment, she gives him a tiny smile before picking the cutlery off the table.

-

"You were bought?" Baekhyun hands Soojung the dishes to wash under the lukewarm water. When they make contact, her young fingers are wrinkled from the moisture.

 

"Of course, every human working in a household has been bought. Mr Park paid seven million won to take me off my trader." She laughs when Baekhyun's eyes grow wide at the figure. "It was an auction, and there were people willing to pay more, but nobody dared to outbid the Phoenix himself." Pushing a strand of hair out of her face with her elbow, she continues, "I don't know why he paid so much for me. The other slaves he owns are the top of their fields but I just got out of university for accounting. It doesn't really make sense."

 

He can think of many reasons why some twisted people would want to buy a beautiful young girl, but not Chanyeol. "You're not the only one then?" He can't believe how loaded Chanyeol is, and he wonders where all this money came from.

 

Soojung reads his mind, seemingly. "Mr Park is from an old money household, apparently, so he can afford many more humans than most Essem." She tilts her head slightly towards the window facing the garden. "On the property itself other than me there's the chef, Yixing; the gardener, Minseok; and Jonghyun being a sort of caretaker. Do you know him? He used to be on one of those home makeover shows on SBS sometimes."

 

He recalls watching the show on lazy Sunday afternoons when he and Chanyeol would eat yesterday's leftovers for lunch. The taller always said he liked the designer's ideas. Baekhyun nods, amazed.

 

"It's nice having someone else to talk to. Jjong isl barely ever in the house and neither is Minseok. Yixing is but he's only lived in Korea a few months, it's difficult to communicate. I think he likes me though," she says, shifting her gaze lower. "He keeps saying I'm pretty. It's cute and all, but I don't know how to tell him I'm not interested."

 

Baekhyun can't help but smile. "Of course, a pretty girl like yourself probably has to deal with that kind of thing a lot."

 

"Yes," she grins shyly, "But it's good to know I'm safe with you at least."

 

He raises an eyebrow at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

She looks at him, suddenly flustered. "I- I thought that you and Mr Park, were..."

 

"We're friends," Baekhyun grinds out, although that descriptor feels so lacking in comparison to everything Chanyeol's been for him. "But we've both got some figuring out to do, I think."

 

Soojung bites her lip, nodding soberly. It's clear that she wants to say something more but is holding back. Eventually Baekhyun can't take it anymore. "Say what you're thinking, I won't get offended," he sighs.

 

There's a moment before she speaks again, as she turns off the tap and dries her hands on her apron, gathering her thoughts as she smooths it out. When she finally does, it's facing him, her face serious yet earnest.

 

"I think you're the only one who has anything left to figure out, Baekhyun. I think he's known what he wants all along."

 

**151010  
2 Months After Invasion**

 

He can feel eyes on him, staring in disgust or jealousy or lust, or perhaps some cocktail of the three. It's his first public outing since the invasion, and Baekhyun shifts in his seat, hands fidgeting against the sides of the delicately carved chair. "Why am I here," he asks Chanyeol under his breath.

 

Chanyeol stares at him from his place on the throne, warming him with a smile. "The people want to see you. You are their hero's favourite human, after all."

 

This doesn't make him feel any better. Instead, he focuses on the swell of the crowd to the pre-game music, every civilian usually tall and regal-looking now somehow reduced to a mess of chanting fanatics.

 

"Welcome, one and all, to the 875th gladiatorial games," a woman's voice announces sweetly through the speakers around what used to be the Olympic stadium. The crowd booms, but then hushes with her next words. "Hear hear! At the request of our almighty Consul, today's game will be something different. In celebration of our recent conquest of Earth," Baekhyun now feels the entire stadium's eyes on him, "We have decided to make an all-human roster!"

 

The roar of the crowd at this has Baekhyun squeezing his eyes shut, wishing he could cover his ears with his hands without garnering their attention.

 

"Please, everybody, welcome to the arena your fighters for the day!"

 

The gates on either side of the sand-filled pit open, and two men are pushed through them. One is sun-bronzed and lean, the other pale and skinny. They are both around Baekhyun's age, he realizes, feeling fear in the pit of his stomach. He'd done some reading about the Essem, sneaking into Chanyeol's personal library whenever he's out. Supposedly they invented the "sports" so enjoyed in Ancient Rome, and still enjoy them back on their home planet.

 

They just stare at each other for a while, the tan one brandishing a small dagger and the pale one a whip of some sort. Something about the set of the pale one's shoulders seems familiar, but it's only when they circle around each other and his face comes into Baekhyun's view that he feels his heart drop.

 

"Kyungsoo!" he screams, standing from his chair and moving forward, only to be held back by the guards.

 

The pale man on the floor looks up at the call of his name, and his face breaks upon seeing his childhood friend. His lips seem to start to say the word "Baekhyun" when the tan one punches him for the first time.

 

"Let me go," Baekhyun struggles in the grip of the khaki-clad men before looking over his shoulder at Chanyeol, who also seems distressed. "Chanyeol, stop them! They have Kyungsoo, they- you have to save him!" The taller man only looks at him silently, his mouth slightly open like he's lost for words.

 

Kyungsoo kicks the tan one with a heel to his chest, before scrambling up from the floor. Baekhyun vaguely remembers the other fighter as Jongin, an idol back on Earth. Now his nose is broken and blood pours out freely, his celebrity face battered and bruised. Before Kyungsoo can lift the whip in his arm Jongin strikes again, probably pooling his agility from dancing and lands over Kyungsoo, trapping him between his legs.

 

The screens around the stadium show Kyungsoo shaking under his hold, cuts littering his face where Baekhyun hadn't even realized Jongin had used his knife. "I'm sorry," the idol seems to sob with every punch, tears streaming from his eyes in two constant streams. Baekhyun screams again, and this time the crowd spots him, only cheering louder and louder.

 

Kyungsoo can barely see through his black eye, but he reassures the younger man striking him with hard knuckles. He was never a fighter, and he thinks maybe Jongin wasn't ever meant to be either. He can feel his consciousness slipping, every grain of sand under his bare arms and back singular and defined, even as the blood that pours from his wounds sticks them together. Somehow, he feels nostalgic as Jongin slams the back of his head against the ground with a firm grip on his temple, thinking about the scar he'd gotten there on a bike ride with Baekhyun when they were eight.

 

The final moments are coming and he feels it in the cheer of the crowds. Jongin delivers one last punch to assure that he won't fight back, even though he knows already that he won't. He holds the tip of his dagger to Kyungsoo's chest, just as he had been taught over the past few weeks, and stares over the crowd.

 

The resounding verdict is "kill him", or a simple thumbs down wanting his life over. Kyungsoo tunes it out, watching the canopy of stars above them, playing in his head all the songs his mother used to sing to him; evenas all eyes in the stadium train themselves on the noble's box, anticipating the final verdict.

 

When Baekhyun realizes this his struggle in the guards' hold intensifies, finally breaking free and falling at Chanyeol's feet. "Please, Chanyeol," Baekhyun pleads, throat hoarse. "Please save him."

 

The tall man's face is unreadable. He looks down at Baekhyun with sympathy in his eyes before looking over the crowd, back and forth again and again. Finally, his gaze fixes on the screen, still focused on the two fighters. Kyungsoo, with his eyes closed and his lips cracked and blue and smiling softly, manages to force out two words, and the whisper booms across the stadium: "End it." Chanyeol sighs.

 

Baekhyun's scream is lost in the cheers of the crowd as the dagger falls.

 

**160108  
5 Months After Invasion**

 

"Light, this is Kai. Do you read me?" Jongin's voice crackles through the earpiece.

 

"Loud and clear," Baekhyun whispers back, still hunched behind the wall. "About to go in." He stops for a minute. "Do you have Phoenix?"

 

"Yes, we've got him. He's unconscious, but I expect he'll want to see you when he wakes up. I doubt we'll be able to control him unless you're here then."

 

Baekhyun nods to himself. "Okay," he says, "I'll finish this as fast as I can." Checking for any danger, he sneaks around the edge of the building and through the backdoor.

 

**151011  
2 Months After Invasion**

 

On the way home, Baekhyun is completely silent. Chanyeol tries to reach out to him where he's huddled against the car door, but the human flinches with every one of Chanyeol's movements. When they reach home, he quickly keys the door open. He knows Baekhyun will try to evade him, but he's already there, catching his wrist before the shorter gets the chance to slip away.

 

Baekhyun explodes.

 

"You fucking murderer! You killed him! You knew he was my friend and you still killed him, just because that's what's expected of you! Are you fucking proud of yourself?" Baekhyun spits, staining the marble floor. "You're an animal. You only know how to kill. I believed in you," he screams, tears ripped from his eyes all of a sudden as he tugs at the taller's collar, "but you proved me wrong. You're just like the others of your kind."

 

For some reason, this strikes a nerve in Chanyeol, his expression turning steely while his grip on the shorter's wrist lowers his hand easily. "You're wrong," he starts quietly yet with a simmering tension under each syllable. Baekhyun can feel himself shrinking under the weight of his mere presence. "Maybe I do only do what's expected of me. But know that if I hadn't let your little friend be set free back then that he'd just have to fight a thousand more fights and I'd be seen as weak. You know what would happen then, Baek?"

 

Baekhyun looks up at where Chanyeol is towering over him and shakes his head, back pressed into the wall.

 

"They would blame it on you. Say the little human boy enchanted their great hero and take you away." When Baekhyun tries to look down, anywhere to avoid Chanyeol's intense glare, the taller simply nudges his chin so he's looking back up at him again. "Best case scenario they'd put you in a labour camp. Worst case I'd be at your funeral in a few days."

 

Baekhyun flinches at the harshness of his words but hears the truth bite with every one. In Chanyeol's eyes, Baekhyun sees his own reflection and the distress surrounding it.

 

"You don't have to go outside anymore. Stay here, in the villa," Chanyeol breathes, straightening his back and masking himself with a calm face. "There's more than enough to keep you occupied in here."

 

The floorboards squeak under his feet as Chanyeol begins to walk away, until Baekhyun grabs hold of his wrist, worry tainting his voice. "You can't do that to me, Chanyeol."

 

The taller man just shakes Baekhyun's grip off. "I can do what I want, Baek," he says without turning to face him. "You belong to me, remember?"

 

Staring after the man who's now walking off towards his room, Baekhyun feels himself seething, but underneath that he feels a sense of betrayal, a frightening implication that his fears have always been justified. He'd been trying to convince himself that Chanyeol couldn't have acted everything, that there was some truth behind their relationship on Earth, but now he's not so sure. Maybe he _is_ just an object to Chanyeol, something to use and throw away when he's done with him.

 

The guest room door is locked, but Chanyeol doesn't call him into the bedroom either. Baekhyun chooses to spend the night on the couch, and Kyungsoo's laughter is what plays in his head before he eventually falls asleep.

 

**050703  
10 Years Before Invasion**

 

Baekhyun hates summers. His friends are all out on family vacations at the time, and his brother too involved with his girlfriend to do anything else. Hardly anyone is online either, all spending time at the beach instead of on Starcraft. Being from a family with very little leftover money after the bills are paid, Baekhyun could never afford such luxuries; instead he sits at home, bored, until it's time to go to school again in the fall.

 

This year, however, is different. Two days after the break starts, he receives a text on his recently purchased first phone. It's from Chanyeol, the new kid who he's quickly grown to like. This isn't a strange occurrence, they message each other almost everyday, to the point where Baekbeom teases that he's got a boyfriend until Baekhyun tells him to fuck off.

 

 **Chanyeol:** hey  
**Baekhyun:** hey  
**Chanyeol:** I'm bored. Wanna come over? I just got smash bros

 

It doesn't take much to convince his mother to let him go, seeing as Chanyeol lives nearby and she had met his mother already. "She's a very nice lady, and very tall too. Must be the genes."

 

He rings the bell once, waiting a couple seconds before the door opens. "Oh hi there, you must be Baekhyun," a beautiful lady smiles, and she is indeed very tall, probably a foot more than his own mother when she's not wearing heels. "Chanyeol's in his room upstairs, it's the third door on the left." Her smile is a little too wide, and honestly it scares him a bit. Other than that, there aren't many features similar between her and her son. Baekhyun just assumes he must have gone on his dad's side.

 

"Come in," Chanyeol yells before he's even knocked. When he opens the door, everything is pristine, not a single thing out of place. It makes Baekhyun feel a little ashamed of his own messy room. "Hey, Baek," Chanyeol pauses the game he was playing and turns to him, smiling like he'd just found salvation. There's a little stir in Baekhyun's stomach, but he figures it's just his sense of endearment on hearing the nickname. The boy pats the space on the bed next to him, and hands him the second gamecube controller when he sits. "By the way, dibs on Link."

-

That's how Baekhyun spends his summer, playing against or alongside Chanyeol; sometimes at his own house, but usually at the taller's. Some games go on so long Baekhyun just ends up staying over, falling asleep on his double bed and waking up to a view of fluorescent plastic stars.

 

This is how the two of them spend every vacation until they graduate high school. When they get into the same university, it just makes sense to move in together as roommates and save on accommodation. It's the easiest thing, because no one knows the other like they do - or at least, that's what Baekhyun thinks.

 

**151011  
2 Months After Invasion**

 

As the sunlight streams through the window, rays dappled on his eyelids as if poured through a canopy of leaves, Baekhyun awakens. His back aches slightly from sleeping on the couch, and when he sits up, his bones click into place.

 

But he's not in the living room, nor in the guest room he'd been using the past few days. Instead, he's in a completely foreign room altogether. He notices something on the ceiling, mouth falling open in shock just as Chanyeol comes out of the bathroom, wearing a plain white t-shirt and grey sweatpants, those that he'd often wear back home.

 

"Good morning, Baekhyun."

 

The human is still in shock. "You moved me here without asking me." He can barely believe it even happened, or that he didn't even wake up when Chanyeol presumably picked him up and carried him here.

 

"I own you, I don't have to ask you." He moves to his wardrobe and quickly strips off his shirt, flinging it towards the laundry basket. Baekhyun wants to keep glaring at him, but turns away instead, embarrassed.

 

"But-"

 

"I know. I may have the rights to your body on paper, but in your mind, you don't belong to me. I know that," he says, not looking at Baekhyun as he buttons up his shirt. "I have no intention of doing anything until you yourself decide to give yourself to me. But I will ask, as your legal owner, that you sleep here in my bed from now on."

 

Baekhyun's angry now, his fists clenching the sheets. He realizes Chanyeol changed him out of his clothes too, into a shirt and knee-length shorts, much like he used to whenever Baekhyun would get too drunk after a night out. He pushes the memory out of his head. "You can't make me do anything, Master."

 

"Maybe I can't. But I've locked the door to the guest room, so unless you want to break your back sleeping on the couch everyday, you'll listen to my wish." He glances at Baekhyun, whose mouth is hanging open, about to protest. "If I was any other Essem, or you were any other slave, you'd be getting a strict punishment by now." Chanyeol puts his chrome cufflinks in, one at a time. "They'd tie you up. Abuse you. Probably have their way with you."

 

Baekhyun's eyes grow wide, though he doesn't know how much of what Chanyeol's saying he can trust, and what's just empty threats. He knows already that Essem aren't above killing for leisure. When Chanyeol turns towards him, he doesn't look like much of a murderer, but Baekhyun knows he has the capability to be one.

 

"All I'm doing is saying please."

-

Though he usually falls asleep instantly, Baekhyun finds himself restless, staring up at the ceiling of the living room. The heating's on full blast, but there's a sudden chill to the outside air and he's freezing, no duvet to wrap himself up in and muscles aching terribly.

 

He recalls the time last year when the heating in his room had broken, so he crashed in Chanyeol's bed for a month. It was a double, so they had enough room, but he often ended up clinging to Chanyeol for extra warmth, since the taller preferred to keep his thermostat at a level less than the blindingly hot one Baekhyun was used to. Chanyeol hadn't let go of it, joking that he was Baekhyun's personal heater, and though Baekhyun had elbowed him in the shoulder each time, he felt grateful too.

 

Baekhyun closes his eyes, forcing himself into a state of half-sleep, but he wakes up several times in the night, and in the morning he's anything but well-rested.

 

After a few nights like this, he knocks at Chanyeol's door.

 

**150708  
1 Month Before Invasion**

 

The day Baekhyun is most afraid for their friendship is a Friday, and Baekhyun has just broken up with his girlfriend of eight months.

 

"I don't understand. She's so perfect, Chanyeol. Kind, intelligent, beautiful, and she loves me. Am I just never satisfied?" He barely glances at Chanyeol, not letting him answer. "I don't get why I wasn't attracted to her. She has a great body too, but it just doesn't do anything for me. Is there something wrong with me?" He takes a swig from his fourth bottle of the night. He feels his coherency slipping through his fingers, but allows the words to fall through anyway. "Honestly, I don't understand it. Like, the appeal. Sometimes I'll even see a guy and I'll think- hey, he's not too bad, but I don't feel that with women at all. I may even be attracted to him, I don't know. Is that weird, or do you get it?"

 

Chanyeol stares at him for a second, expression unchanging, and Baekhyun shivers in the suspense. Finally, all the taller man says is, "I get it."

 

Baekhyun heaves a breath, weighing the possible outcomes to his next statement on the tip of his tongue. "And... Sometimes when I think about you, it makes me feel like that too. As in, as more than a friend."

 

He expects revulsion, disgust flecked in shouts of slurs and _I never want to see you again_ , but instead he's met with the same reply from the other, silence followed by a short acknowledgment. He doesn't know what he means, hasn't braced himself for this answer (or lack of one), and now the comfortable space between him and Chanyeol feels suffocating, the need for a reaction twisting in his lungs. "No, Chanyeol, I don't think you do-"

 

It's a soft kiss, but its abruptness makes it seem harsh, even violent for a while, before Baekhyun wills his eyes closed. Chanyeol's hands are as gentle as his lips, one at the nape of Baekhyun's neck while the other rests easily on his hip. "Tell me to stop," Chanyeol breathes, and in the short moment before Chanyeol reclaims his lips, Baekhyun sees a stranger in his eyes, feels Chanyeol's fingers press sharply against the base of his spine.

 

Everything is moving much too fast, and he's not sure whether he really wants this, and yet he knows he does; nevertheless, Chanyeol is licking into his mouth, wrecking him with such a practiced ease that he wonders if he's done this before, if he's ruined other people just like this. He can't remember how they got to the bed, just that Chanyeol's arms had been so strong around him, trapping him closer to his growing body heat. He's not sure when their shirts came off, but as soon as Chanyeol's fire hot skin makes contact with his, reality strikes him.

 

"Chanyeol, we can't!" he means to scream, but all that comes out is a whine that barely convinces himself.

 

Chanyeol stares at him, but stops. "Okay... Why." It's so firm a syllable it barely sounds like a question.

 

"Because- because we're both men!" Baekhyun starts, seeing something like tiredness in Chanyeol's eyes but feeling no sense of triumph. "We can't want each other."

 

He receives a reply into his mouth, Chanyeol kissing him once more before looking him straight in the eye. "Look at me and say that, Baek." He kisses his jawline, gently as if waiting for an answer. "Maybe you think we can't, you've been taught we can't," Chanyeol kisses down the column of his throat, and Baekhyun's back arches, heat pooling in his stomach. He wants this, but his upbringing still insists that it's wrong. "But I still want you, Baek. Tell me you don't want me."

 

His mind is a haze. Baekhyun never thought Chanyeol was gay, but now that the revelation is out, it's not much of a surprise. What shocks him instead is that Chanyeol wants him.

 

The last thing Baekhyun expected was that he likes this too, when everyone around him growing up told him he shouldn't, that it's taboo. He has quick flashbacks to the heat in his gut every time he'd see an attractive male celebrity strip off his shirt on TV, the fast beating of his heart when his handsome taekwondo instructor stood over him to fix his posture. And then he remembers how warm he felt every time he saw Chanyeol, starting from their early teens, that he'd brushed aside as the happiness of seeing a friend. But he can't bring himself to admit it out loud just yet.

 

Despite this, he can't deny it either. He had never lied to Chanyeol before, he isn't going to start now.

 

Chanyeol's eyes are too intense, and there's too much going on in his head, so when Chanyeol's hand brushes past his erection accidentally, Baekhyun just _breaks_. He barely registers unbuttoning his own jeans hastily, Chanyeol's name is followed by a whimper in place of the assertion he wanted. Any doubt gets overpowered by the effect of Chanyeol's ministrations, and so he's given into it with a murmured plea before Chanyeol pushes a spit-slick finger into him.

 

It hurts like a bitch, but the taller man is rubbing comforting circles in his back, and soon he's pushing back onto his fingers, despite himself. "Chanyeol," he cries as his best friend stretches him open with deft movements. "Please, I- Please, just do it." His desire loses to all the morals he'd been raised with. An earthy growl sounds from Chanyeol's throat as he pushes Baekhyun's thighs apart, sucking on the skin of Baekhyun's neck with fiery lips.

 

"You're mine," he whispers dangerously softly into Baekhyun's ear before pushing himself into the shorter, biting at his lobe. "Only mine," each syllable emphasized with a roll of his hips.

 

Baekhyun's close to tears, his erection red and barely touched, whines escaping with each of Chanyeol's perfectly aimed thrusts. When he keens over in pleasure he just about spots Chanyeol reaching for his aching cock, but he pushes the other's hand away before working on himself. He feels the taller's eyes on him but doesn't look up to meet them.

 

He comes before Chanyeol, release sticky over his hand and both of their chests. After a few more jerks Chanyeol pulls out, and Baekhyun feels his cum drying in streaks down the backs of his thighs. He can't help but shake, feeling absolutely disgusted with himself as the walls he'd built for so many years come crashing down around him.

 

"What did we just do, Chanyeol? What have we _done_?" Seeing the younger's newly fallen face, he feels guilt crash into him at a thousand miles a minute. "I mean-" but his voice ends up faltering anyways.

 

The taller seems to be struggling for words, and Baekhyun shifts to sit up, but the pain has him paralyzed, forcing him to think about his actions, and what this would mean for him, for them. "You didn't want to yet, did you," Chanyeol states more than asks, at the ceiling more than to Baekhyun.

 

The shorter sighs. Of course, his best friend knows him so well he'd be able to sense his discomfort even now. "I don't know what I want, Chanyeol. Don't feel bad, I told you yes. It's my fault."

 

Chanyeol turns to face him, propping his head on his hand and staring down at him. "No, it's not. I should've known," Baekhyun looks up at him, expecting the concern that's evident on his face, but not the pain. Chanyeol looks more distraught now than he ever has, and more than anything, Baekhyun finds it terrifying. "I should've known you'd want time to come to terms with your feelings. The place where I lived before I came here, it was very open about that sort of thing. It's always felt natural to me, but here it's not the same. I shouldn't have pushed that onto you."

 

Baekhyun feels his heart swell for the taller again like it has so many times before. "It's okay," he starts, bringing a hand up to Chanyeol's face. "I liked it." He strokes his jaw gently, watching the younger's lips curl into a smile, feeling his heart ache with every touch. "But I need some time until we can do that again, okay? Just to get my shit together."

 

Chanyeol nods, expression stern again, leaning a kiss into his palm, staying calm despite the shorter's initial flinch. "I'll wait for you Baekhyun, I swear. Just," he places his own hand over Baekhyun's. "Promise me that you're mine. Please."

 

Baekhyun hesitates, never having heard the taller man speak in such a tone before; it's scary how entirely foreign he looks in that moment, like a completely different person. He needs time to ponder it, and he's sure Chanyeol will understand - he has to. With this he turns in the bed, no longer able to face the man he let see him at his most vulnerable, trying in vain to hide the tears that Chanyeol already knows are there.

 

**151016  
2 Months After Invasion**

 

Memories of their sole night together flood his dreams, and he awakens with a start. He checks to see that Chanyeol's still asleep on his side of the bed before slinking off to the bathroom to take care of his problem.

 

He can't seem to do it. Every time he touches himself, Chanyeol's face plays over and over in his mind and guilt follows soon after. He's been sitting on the marbled tiles of the shower floor for a good hour or so when the door swings open.

 

"Let me help you," Chanyeol offers calmly. Baekhyun stares at him, flustered, and the taller just sighs. "Baek, you need to sleep. Humans our age can't function well without at least seven hours, right? So come on." After Baekhyun still seems hesitant, he closes his eyes. "I promised you I wouldn't take you again until you're ready, and I'm a man of my word. Trust me?" When Baekhyun remains hesitant, he sighs frustatedly. "Let me take care of you," he says again, firmly this time.

 

Baekhyun knows that even though Chanyeol said it like an order it was anything but, just by how he's waiting for him to respond. He could say no, and he'd leave him be; but he's so desperate for release that he nods nevertheless, moving to make space for Chanyeol to sit between his legs. The man rubs his hand casually once over Baekhyun's crotch and the latter feels his cock twitch already. Pulling down painfully slow, Chanyeol's gaze is focused, his hands deliberate. He spits into his palm before moving it onto the other's arousal, quickly working to get him to completion.

 

Baekhyun comes within just a few minutes. He blushes a deep red as Chanyeol stares at the release now covering his hand, fixedly, and ends up coughing to get the man's attention. It's only when he shifts to stand that he notices the taller's still prominent hard-on, and subconsciously reaches for the waistband of his boxers.

 

"No," Chanyeol snaps his eyes shut, obviously trying hard to control himself. "You're only doing it because you think you have to. I don't want that." Strangely, Baekhyun feels almost hurt when his hand gets pushed away, before he's being pulled up at his elbow. "If you touch me I won't be able to hold back. Go to bed, Baek, I'll take care of it."

 

Lying in bed, Baekhyun stares at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling and thinks about the nights he'd spent at Chanyeol's as they grew up, the same stars twinkling down on him. Chanyeol had always said they made him feel at home, and then Baekhyun had teased him about having Yoda ears.

 

The whistle of the wind outside mixes with the chirps of crickets and the breathy huffs sounding from the other side of the bathroom door. Baekhyun wonders, as his eyelids begin to droop, what the taller man was thinking at 13 years old, as they stared up at those plastic pieces of their secret night sky.

-

Baekhyun wakes in the middle of the night with Chanyeol's hand between his legs.

 

When he falls asleep again, he dreams of home.

 

**151112  
3 Months After Invasion**

 

The leaves of the trees dim, their golden red foliage forming carpets that hide the dull grey of the cement earth. Baekhyun watches the last vestiges of autumn fall away through the living room window. It had always been his favourite season, and it was slowly decaying with the cold once again.

 

Chanyeol emerges from their room, hair still slightly wet from his shower, just in time for Baekhyun to see the luxury car pulling into the driveway. Out of the front seat of the sleek black jaguar, a human man hurries out to open the back door, eyes averted. A much taller man, maybe even taller than Chanyeol, steps out, not looking back as the human shuts the door behind him. Baekhyun's suddenly aware of Chanyeol's presence hovering just above him, and when he looks up, he sees him also staring at the visitor, a frown stitched on his features.

 

"Mr Park?" Soojung is at the door as soon as the bell rings, holding it slightly ajar. "There's a Mr-"

 

"Let him in," he sighs.

 

The door swings open and the stranger enters, suit exquisitely pressed and pitch black against his pale skin. His slave, in contrast, is dressed in plain, if not shabby clothing, clearly a rough fabric which would irritate the skin, with a steel collar tight around his neck. Soojung stills upon seeing the man, and when his eyes flicker up Baekhyun notices him having to hold back a gasp.

 

"Is this your human, Park?" The blonde forgoes a greeting as he approaches them, jutting out his chin. "If it wasn't for his height I'd have thought he was one of us, what with how you're keeping him in luxury like this."

 

He moves to grab Baekhyun by the elbow, and the shorter flinches by reflex. Fortunately Chanyeol intervenes, giving the slightly taller man a hardened glare. "Don't touch him, Yifan."

 

The blonde, Yifan, regards him seriously for a moment before cracking a smile, hands held out defensively in front of him. "Alright, okay. I haven't seen you in ten years, I forgot how possessive you can get over your _property_ ," he glances at Baekhyun from the corner of his eye on the last word, and Chanyeol feels Baekhyun's grip on the back of his shirt loosen almost completely. He frowns while Yifan grins. "Junmyeon! My case!"

 

The man with jet black hair scurries from behind him, a small leather briefcase laid on his arms, kneeling slightly with eyes downcast. Yifan doesn't acknowledge him, just unbuckles the clasps and takes out a letter, handing it to Chanyeol. Junmyeon is still holding the briefcase as Chanyeol reads through the document, shaking slightly in his position. Baekhyun watches him, mouthing a small "I'm sorry" when he briefly catches his eyesight, even though it's not his place to apologize. Junmyeon then steals a glance at Soojung, who's desperately trying to keep her composure.

 

Both Soojung and Baekhyun jump when Junmyeon falls to the ground all of a sudden, his master having kicked him roughly to the shin.

 

"What did I fucking tell you about keeping your eyes to yourself?" He pulls the small man's head up by his hair, and Junmyeon keeps his eyes squeezed tight from the pain searing through his kneecaps. "You only look at others when I tell you to, understand?" Junmyeon nods desperately, and Yifan releases his grip, letting him collapse onto the marble floor. Soojung turns away, gracefully escaping the room with Junmyeon's eyes following her back.

 

Chanyeol has paused his reading to watch these events unfold, staring at Yifan disdainfully.

 

"What?" The blonde says when he notices. "He's a human, Captain, and that's how we treat humans here. This isn't Earth anymore." He glares down at Junmyeon, who gets the unspoken message and clambers to his feet, bowing before moving away with the newly shut briefcase. "Speaking of, I'd take heed of that order there if I were you, lest the Consul rid you of your," his gaze flickers to Baekhyun, trailing up and down his body, "privileges."

 

Baekhyun feels humiliation mix with his anger, but Chanyeol blocks him from the blonde's view. "Goodbye, Yifan," he says, more as an order than a greeting.

 

The taller shrugs, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he makes his way out. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he calls out without looking back, with Junmyeon, who does.

 

"What does it say?" Baekhyun asks as soon as he hears the car engine fade away.

 

Chanyeol folds the paper in half quickly before Baekhyun can see it. "Nothing, Baek, it's not important. Go check on Soojung, please."

 

"Didn't you hear him?" Baekhyun gestures to the door with a thumb. "Me staying with you relies on it." He tries to make a grab for the letter, but the taller isn't having it, holding it easily out of his reach. "Chanyeol, I want to know!"

 

"Well maybe I don't want you to know!" Chanyeol shouts. Baekhyun stills, seeing hints of flames crackling behind Chanyeol's dark pupils. "I'm the master in this house, Baekhyun, and what I say goes."

 

The human can't help but cower. He'd like to believe Chanyeol won't lay a hand on him, but when he's faced with his anger first-hand, he feels fear override him anyway.

 

Chanyeol sees him tense, and sighs. "Baek, I can't let you see this. I'm really sorry, but it's for the better. Please understand." He pulls the shorter into him, holding him tight against his chest, and Baekhyun feels comfort and suffocation all at the same time.

 

**151118  
3 Months After Invasion**

 

Stuck within the confines of the house with little to entertain himself with, Baekhyun finds himself sneaking into Chanyeol's library more and more often. It's strictly forbidden, and Chanyeol hides the key in a new place everyday; but he's predictable, and Baekhyun soon finds it each time.

 

The majority of the books are non-fiction, chronicling the ancient lore of the Essem all the way to their current affairs. It's through this medium that Baekhyun finds out that the aliens' home planet has been slowly deteriorating over the last few thousand years, their wildlife and resources declining at alarming rates in the last decade especially. This is why the invasion seemed so sudden - because by all accounts, it was. There were no plans to invade for another century at least, but a few natural calamities had forced them to make a move.

 

Chanyeol had been assigned his role since birth. Coming from a long line of powerful Essem, his fate had been sealed the moment it was discovered that his power was that of yielding fire. So rare it was to see people with the ability, as it was so volatile that pregnancies of these children were barely ever successful, only a handful were born every hundred years, and maybe one at most would live past infancy. Chanyeol was that one, and so immediately got shipped off to train as a sleeper and possible one-day leader.

 

It's surprising to find out that the woman who Baekhyun believed to be Chanyeol's mother was not biologically related to him at all, instead being an adoptive guardian as she became part of an older generation of sleepers.

 

Despite everything, Baekhyun feels bad for him. The Consul were quick to eliminate any Essem not following orders, so Chanyeol had been forced to follow their whims his whole life. To have such great responsibility through no will of your own could be enough to destroy someone, and yet Chanyeol strove on with a public smile, only ever dropping the pretence in private. It also, deep down, sparks a glimmer of hope.

 

The next thing he knows, he's being dragged away by the wrist, the veins in Chanyeol's neck sticking out with fury. Essem hate to appear weak, and what Baekhyun has done has put all his faults on show. Chanyeol throws him on the bed, breaths heavy and ears tinted red.

 

"You won't do anything," Baekhyun stares directly at him, things finally clicking into place. "You did all this to survive, but it's not who you are."

 

Chanyeol is still panting shallow, but he's not refuting Baekhyun's statement either, and that's all the proof he needs. After Chanyeol storms out, he lies back in bed, heart beating rapidly and mind whirring over what this all means.

 

**150806  
Day of Invasion**

 

The alarm on his phone beeps seven times to signal the start of Baekhyun's day, and he fumbles to hit the dismiss button while sleep still clings to his eyes. He closes them for a second, but quickly the buzz of the doorbell interrupts his sleep.

 

"Chanyeol, get the door!" At this time his best friend and roommate is usually awake for some irrational reason, but today the door buzzes again.

 

As time goes by and the knocks on the door become increasingly incessant, Baekhyun's anxiety only grows. Searching through the apartment only to find that he is completely alone, with no trace of Chanyeol or any of his belongings, is even more terrifying. He can't help but think it's because of that incident about a month ago; reasoning that Chanyeol has probably had enough, sick of how Baekhyun wants to go about like nothing even happened. He feels like throwing up, but he goes to open the door anyways.

 

What greets him on the other side are three tall men in fitted, army-like uniforms. A sudden impulse passes through Baekhyun's body, and his arms are suddenly forced behind him with an excruciating force, though it seems nobody is applying it.

 

"Byun Baekhyun," one of them smiles, though his tone is flat. "We're associates of Mr Park Chanyeol. Please come with us."

 

He doesn't want to, but his feet are moving of their own volition, or maybe someone else's. As they reach the ground floor, Baekhyun hears the distinct sound of bullets outside. "Hands up in the air!" A young police officer stands at the door, a gun pointed in their direction.

 

The men just look between each other, expressionless. One lifts a hand, and the human's face distorts in anguish, and Baekhyun can just about make out the distinct sound of bones cracking over the overwhelming amount of sirens.

 

"Keeping him awake is too much hassle," he briefly hears one man say, before there's a blunt impact to the back of his head and the world fades to black.

-

Somewhere in the darkness, he hears a familiar voice, though it sounds miles away. "I'm sorry Baek," it says, the crackling of embers gentle in the background. "It was the only way."

 

 

**151126  
3 Months After Invasion**

 

When the birthday celebration was announced, Baekhyun did not think it would be this elaborate of an affair. Chanyeol had never been into parties, only really going when Baekhyun dragged him along, and then sticking next to him the whole time.

 

This event, however, has a plethora of affluent, important Essem, a few bringing along their human slaves, enter their house. If it hadn't been for Soojung and Minseok sticking with him this time, he'd have felt entirely overwhelmed by all the Essem in the building, as Chanyeol is barely ever near him, having to greet every guest as the host.

 

"Hi," one man speaks, approaching them. They all shift uncomfortably on gauging his height and demeanour. He looks directly at Baekhyun as he takes a seat, completely ignoring the other two. "You must be Baekhyun. I've heard a lot about you." He stops one of the human waiters who's walking past, tray in hand. "Drink?"

 

Afraid of the consequences of saying no, he takes a glass with a small thank you to the waiter. He's actually quite surprised when the other man does the same.

 

They don't talk much, the man mostly just watching those on the makeshift dancefloor and tapping his foot to the music. Eventually Minseok gets called away to help Jonghyun with some maintenance outside, and Soojung has to leave to help Yixing in the kitchen. A little while later, a waiter is walking by a nearby table when one of the tall guests sticks her leg out, tripping the staff. Baekhyun watches with a gaping mouth as the other Essem laugh at this horrible act, their human slaves staying silent and keeping their eyes on the ground, as if they've become used to this.

 

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He stands, after helping the waiter, to confront the girl who is still laughing amongst her friends even as the whole room goes silent.

 

She exchanges looks between her compatriots before bursting into laughter again. "This filth is being awfully audacious, daring to ask me who I am when all _he_ is is the Phoenix's full-time whore." She pats his cheek, and he feels electric shocks pulsing through her fingertips when they make contact.

 

"Back off, Sulli," the Essem from before interrupts, pulling her hand away from him. She stares at him for a moment, as if waiting for him to reveal a joke of some sort. He doesn't, instead he pushes her clutch into her hands and turns her towards the door. "I'd leave now if I were you. I wouldn't want Chanyeol to find out what you just said behind his back."

 

Glaring, the girl struts off, followed by a small entourage of other Essem girls and their humans. By the time the wheels of a car screech outside the party has already resumed its previous bustle, except now Baekhyun could overhear his own name a lot more in strangers' conversations.

 

"I'm Sehun, by the way," he holds out a hand, which Baekhyun takes. "I wonder where Chanyeol has gotten to - he's not being a very good boyfriend, leaving you alone here like this to fend for yourself."

 

The sudden break of silence has Baekhyun flustered. "We're just friends."

 

"So you're saying that the great heroic Captain Park has decided to keep you as a pet because you're his _friend_?" Sehun lets out a bark of laughter. "Perhaps you'd want to change that soon, before he decides to swap you out for another human."

 

Baekhyun glares at him, his hand itching to leave an imprint across the boy's pristine face, but settles on clenching his fist upon remembering what could happen to him if he does so. 

 

Sehun notices his anger and immediately stops smiling. "I'm kidding, it was a joke." Baekhyun doesn't find it very funny. "Look," Sehun says, trying to resolve things. "I was on Earth too. Stationed in Scotland - do you ever recall Chanyeol saying he had a cousin in Edinburgh?"

 

The shorter has to stretch his mind for a second before he vaguely remembers, a fleeting memory of a sentence lost amidst conversation. He nods slowly.

 

"Well that was me. Except we're not related," Sehun laughs, and he sounds exceptionally old when he does, despite his young face. "He would call me up everyday, though. And you know what he always talked about?" He doesn't wait for Baekhyun to answer. "You, of course. Every single day, without fail. Even when he didn't see you! I felt jealous for a while, you know." Glancing around, he makes sure nobody is watching before he leans down and whispers lowly. "You have to know that he's wanted you since the day he first set eyes on you, right, Baekhyun?" The shock on Baekhyun's face spurs him on. "The day you confessed was the best day of his life, bar none. He told me that himself."

 

A human waiter rushes by, and Sehun places his now empty glass and picks up another, in a movement so fluid it's completely subdued. Baekhyun, in comparison, struggles with the news he's just heard, and takes a glass with shaking hands, but makes no move to drink from it.

 

"Why me?" he asks. "Why is he so obsessed with me? And from that long ago-" he exhales slowly, trying desperately to hold himself together.

 

"You don't know?" He looks amused. "When an Essem falls in love, it's instant, and it lasts forever. Even if you never loved him that way, Baekhyun, he'd stay with you, even if it was just as a friend. Part of him belongs to you," he says, eyes glancing to the side where Chanyeol is approaching fast. "And it's clear more than some of you belongs to him." Baekhyun only vaguely remembers that he never told Sehun about his side of the relationship up until now.

 

"There you are," Chanyeol grins widely, looping an arm around Sehun's shoulders like they're old friends, which they are, Baekhyun guesses. An unexpected pang of pain grips his heart like a vice. "I see you've met Baekhyun," he smiles down at the shorter.

 

"I have," Sehun replies through his grin, "It was a pleasure. I was actually just giving him some advice."

 

Chanyeol quirks an eyebrow but then nods. Sehun makes some excuse of having to leave, and Chanyeol sends him off with a tight hug. There, again, is the hurt in Baekhyun's chest. The last time Chanyeol had hugged him like that was on Earth, after they'd kissed for the first and seemingly last time.

 

**150329  
4 Months Before Invasion**

 

His mother's funeral is a lot more calm than he expected. Of course, with the extent of time she'd been suffering from lung cancer, it wasn't the most surprising thing when the doctors had called to tell him she was in her last days.

 

Baekhyun sits in the foremost pew, Chanyeol on one side and his girlfriend, Taeyeon, on the other, hand in his. Across the aisle, Baekbeom sits with his wife and children. This is the first time Baekhyun has even seen his nephews since his brother left to go to university in America, and then never came back. This too, he guesses, was to be expected. They were never particularly close to begin with.

 

Chanyeol's mother is standing, tall and regal as ever, in front of the coffin, paying her final respects. When she turns and Baekhyun catches a glimpse of her face, she looks her age, for once. It makes Baekhyun feel sick, just as much as when his mother revealed the news of her diagnosis to him.

 

Taeyeon squeezes his hand in hers, smiling sympathetically when he turns to her. She's beautiful, as always, makeup dainty, dress plain yet feminine. Growing up, girls like Taeyeon were always what he'd described as his ideal type. Taeyeon is the type of girl his mother would want him to marry, the type even his brother would approve of if he bothered to show up to the wedding.

 

Baekhyun tries to imagine Taeyeon's face as haggard, wrinkles bringing it down with absolute sadness over losing him this way. He tries, but he can't. All he sees in the brief moments behind his eyelids, where he lies in the coffin himself pale and lifeless, are Chanyeol's expressive eyes filled with misery, his large hands shaking as they grasp the edges of the casket.

 

Back in reality, he turns to look up at Chanyeol. The taller is staring down at him already, gaze so focused it feels like nothing else in the universe exists for him but Baekhyun, in that moment at least. Instead of being embarrassed about being caught and turning away, the other stays resolute; the only change being that his gaze softens slightly. There's a question in his eyes, one that makes Baekhyun's stomach flip, even though he doesn't know why. The question has always been there, ever since Chanyeol first asked to sit next to him in eigth grade. Baekhyun still doesn't know how to answer, doesn't know if he ever will.

 

So as always, he chooses not to answer at all. Instead, he turns his face forward - away from Chanyeol and all the fears he's run from his whole life - towards his mother, his grip tightening on Taeyeon's hand.

 

**151127  
3 Months After Invasion **

 

After the party is over with the decorations still up, ghostly and hanging around the house, Baekhyun sits on the couch, contemplating. It's well past midnight, and the others have all retired to their respective rooms, but Sehun's "joke" rings in his ears, keeping him awake. What if Chanyeol really does tire of him? It would be so easy to replace him, and any other human would feel grateful to take his place.

 

But he doesn't know that Chanyeol would love them like Sehun described. And he doesn't know that they would feel for Chanyeol what he himself does. He hesitates to label it, just as he hesitates at the door of their room before knocking his knuckles against the wood.

 

The sight that meets him upon opening the door is nothing new. Chanyeol always sleeps near naked, black boxers the only fabric on his body besides the sheets. "Baekhyun," he sits up, a little surprised. The moonlight collects in his collarbones, draws constellations over his chest. His body is unchanged, and yet somehow under the context of what's about to happen, Baekhyun feels a difference in his presence; this is no longer clumsy nerd Park Chanyeol who can't handle spicy food and is overly touchy. This is Captain Park, ruthless spy and war hero; this is The Phoenix, a living legend. It makes Baekhyun fear his decision for just a second, before strengthening his resolve. Underneath all the fame and flames the man he fell in love with still exists, he tells himself.

 

Chanyeol's expression grows more confused with every shaky step Baekhyun takes towards the bed, but understanding dawns as Baekhyun inches onto it, swinging a leg over him so he's straddling Chanyeol's thighs. "You're sure about this?" He sounds so concerned, he always does.

 

It takes a moment, but he nods. This time, he is.

 

The smile on Chanyeol's face is the brightest Baekhyun's seen it since the invasion, maybe even his whole life, and while he holds the underside of Baekhyun's thigh in one hand the other reaches to caress his neck. Baekhyun's eyelids flutter while his heart drops, the way it always does when Chanyeol does that. Chanyeol pulls him closer gently, their foreheads and noses barely touching. "I've wanted this for so long," he smiles against Baekhyun's mouth. "I've wanted to make you mine ever since I saw you." Baekhyun feels every syllable spoken against his lips. If Chanyeol hadn't been holding him then, gentle yet firm, he's sure he'd be shivering.

 

He focuses on the way Chanyeol's thumb smooths down a strand of hair on the back of his neck before they kiss.

 

It's careful, much like the other time. Chanyeol is in control, he always is, moving his lips slowly over Baekhyun's as if it's second nature. Baekhyun feels comforted by it, pretends like nothing's changed. He shifts on Chanyeol's lap, looping his arms around his neck and parting his lips in invitation.

 

The skin of Baekhyun's thigh is soft and pliant, just as Chanyeol had remembered, under his hold as he licks into Baekhyun's mouth. He makes out the lingering aftertaste of toothpaste on his teeth, not enough to hide that unique scent of his that Chanyeol had memorized and replayed in his mind everyday.

 

Baekhyun moans into his mouth when Chanyeol sucks on his tongue, grinding his hips down against the taller man in want. Chanyeol's grip on Baekhyun's neck grows tighter for a second before he's above him, trapping his body between his muscled arms. Baekhyun is frozen under the fire he sees in Chanyeol's eyes, a thick combination of lust and need and something like love. Chanyeol's hands draw up Baekhyun's sides from under his shirt, trails of heat left across his waist before the clothing gets discarded.

 

Immediately Chanyeol's mouth is roaming everywhere, sucking marks of ownership into every inch of perfect skin. Baekhyun bucks up into thin air when Chanyeol fixes around a nipple, tongue swirling around it before his teeth bite down, hard but not painful. After he's done he moves onto the other, Baekhyun squirming under his invisible hold.

 

"Please," he tries to gasp out but Chanyeol is already kissing up his toned calves, licking bruises into the insides of thighs before rubbing over them with calloused thumbs. He pushes those thighs apart and Baekhyun spreads them for him readily, yearning for the friction his body is demanding.

 

He can barely distinguish Chanyeol's other hand opening the bedside drawer while the thumb of his left is flicking expertly over his cock, before taking it in his hand and moving desperately slow. "I want to do it right this time," he whispers, laying another kiss to the crease between Baekhyun's pelvis and thigh. "I didn't think about you last time. You deserve better than that," he says, licking a stripe up Baekhyun's cock where a bead of precome had left a trail. The shorter squirms, knowing Chanyeol is watching him in enjoyment.

 

When Chanyeol's tongue first makes contact, his whole body tenses. His large hands move to grip Baekhyun's hips easily as he teases him slightly before pushing in, knowing every part of him, finally.

 

Baekhyun is no virgin but he's never been this intimate with anyone before, never felt this vulnerable. Chanyeol is working some sort of magic, each minute movement seemingly calculated to leave him a writhing mess. Baekhyun pushes back onto the taller's face urgently, and it's all too much for him. He comes all over his chest, muscles probably constricting around Chanyeol's tongue.

 

The taller withdraws, and Baekhyun feels embarrassed to face him, knowing what a mess he must look like right now as he came without even touching the other. He opens his eyes, though, when Chanyeol's tongue is once again moving up his body, savouring his release as he inches a finger into him. "Don't be ashamed. You're beautiful." Baekhyun almost wants to laugh from the cheesiness of the sentiment, but the serious look in Chanyeol's eyes as he scissors three fingers inside him has him holding his breath instead.

 

When Chanyeol finally pushes in, ever so slowly reaching the hilt, it's like nothing else. He doesn't move until Baekhyun pushes his ass back against him, and with each thrust he notices more things about Chanyeol. He's blinking rapidly, so the bad eyesight wasn't a lie. His breath still shakes as he moves, so maybe he really isn't athletic. And his palms are still sweaty when Baekhyun takes them in his, pulling him down for a kiss that felt too long overdue.

 

Chanyeol comes, hips stuttering as he reaches release, and Baekhyun doesn't feel at all disgusted by it this time around. The taller stays there for a while, jerking Baekhyun off slowly, and soon after he comes too, the other's gaze still focused on him as he climaxes.

 

"Stop staring at me like that or I'll change my mimd."

 

"About what?" Chanyeol starts, suddenly worried, but Baekhyun cups his face gently, calming him with soft fingertips along his jaw.

 

"Don't worry. I won't." He rests his head against his chest, the steady thrum of his heart reverberating in his ears. "Happy birthday."

 

**151204  
4 Months After Invasion**

 

Falling in love with Chanyeol, it seems to Baekhyun, was an inevitability.

 

As soon as he'd come to terms with his sexuality, it had all been astoundingly clear. In fact, it probably had been before that, but he just couldn't put a name to it back then. It still unnerves him slightly that Chanyeol had felt it all, that feeling brought on in Baekhyun by years of closeness and companionship, in just one first look. He doubts it will ever fully go away, but when Chanyeol scoops him up in his embrace, still half-asleep, he just forgets.

 

Chanyeol, to him, is still human.

-

Snow is falling gently outside when Baekhyun trudges into the kitchen. Yixing smiles at him from his spot behind the stove, preparing a stew of some sort for Chanyeol's lunch.

 

"Mr Park loves you very much, doesn't he?"

 

Baekhyun freezes. Yixing doesn't have much expression on his face other than a vacant smile and his hands are still stirring the broth. Situations like this have always been hard for him; ironically enough, Chanyeol had always been the one better suited to gauging human emotions.

 

"It was just a joke, Baekhyun. I really could care less how you two choose to spend your time." The man grins again, looking down into the pot. Baekhyun feels his hand raise to shift his t-shirt, attempting to hide the very obvious hickeys around his collar.

 

"Hey, Baek," Chanyeol sing-songs, striding into the kitchen without a misstep. Although Chanyeol had been loud before the change, he had never been so self-assured, and it had taken some getting used to. But he couldn't say he didn't enjoy this side of Chanyeol, the type to stroll confidently into a room before kissing him with no regard for whoever else is there. Honestly, Baekhyun enjoys the attention.

 

"Chanyeol, not here..." Baekhyun feels his cheeks burn, but Yixing is just casually humming away.

 

"Yes here. It's my house, I can do as I please," he grins before kissing Baekhyun again, deeper this time, and Baekhyun can't help but relent.

 

Once he's left, lunch packed and tie fastened, the chef speaks up. "You guys are cute together. It'd be nice if you continued being so, since it means we get treated a little nicer too."

 

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun asks, interest piqued.

 

"I got some money, recently. For my birthday. And I think Mr Park treated us because he's in a good mood nowadays. I know he's already very different to other Essem masters from what I've heard-"

 

This catches him off-guard. He had already seen how that Yifan guy treated his slave, but thought he might just be a bad case. "What- have you heard, Yixing?"

 

"Haven't you seen their code of conduct? It basically tells them to look down on humans, to treat us like shit where possible so we're 'reminded of our place' or whatever. If Chanyeol wasn't in love with you we'd all basically be in chains at the moment, covered in cuts and bruises. He's playing a dangerous game by defying their rules like this. Ah, I need some more ginger for this," he perks up when he looks at the recipe, and before Baekhyun can ask him what he means, he's already heading out the door with a "I'll be back from the market soon."

 

For a few hours, Baekhyun ponders. Even when Yixing returns, the chef looks remarkably busy, and Baekhyun decides it's probably useless to ask him further questions when he's bustling about like that. He goes to their bedroom, the one him and Chanyeol share now. For the last two days he's been in the process of moving his possessions from the guest room and making space for himself in the expansive wardrobes.

 

It's then that a memory strikes.

 

In another world, where he and Chanyeol are a regular couple, he would never do this, considering it against his morals. But they are not a normal couple, and he knows that Chanyeol has done a lot worse to know about him completely.

 

After rummaging for about half an hour, he finds the unmistakable white envelope, the seal of the Essem Consul broken where Chanyeol had opened it all those months ago. It's hidden under several layers of clothes quite far back in Chanyeol's closet, obviously not wanting to be read. Baekhyun peels the letter open nevertheless.

-

**Official Correspondence from the Essem Consul, delivered 151112  
**  
Recipient:Captain Park Chanyeol  
 **Subject:** Inappropriate kindness shown to Human slaves

 

Captain Park,

 

It has come to our attention recently that a number of human slaves in your household are being treated exceedingly well compared to the standard of living which we deem appropriate for the human species. With your level of notoriety, it is this sort of leniency that arms dissent in lesser species, and we cannot afford to deal with rebellion in these initial stages of settlement. We are particularly concerned by your reward slave, as he has shown multiple times to openly disagree with your actions, when of course this is not his place. We strongly recommend you to remind him of what he is, Captain. We can only give you a few months before further action has to be taken. We hope for your sake you aren't going easy on him. Do not think we will hesitate to act just because of your past heroics.

 

Yours faithfully,  
Lord Shim Changmin  
Central Consulate of Seoul

-

In the distance, he hears the front door open, shoving the letter back where he found it and retreating to the bed, hoping to look inconspicuous despite the revelation he'd just received.

 

"Oh, hey Baek," Chanyeol grins. His shoulders look tense, and a few worry lines etch themselves across his forehead. Baekhyun realizes that, though he has given himself over to Chanyeol completely, there are still a lot of things about the Essem man that he doesn't know yet. "You okay?" the taller asks, snapping him out of his thoughts.

 

Baekhyun can't bring himself to speak, mind still reeling over the contents of the letter, so he just nods instead, grateful when Chanyeol pulls him into a hug with no further questions.

 

**151222  
4 Months After Invasion**

 

Baekhyun knows something bad is going to happen before his eyes even open.

 

It's a niggling itch at the back of his neck, following him through his morning routine, lingering under his clothes, an uninvited guest at breakfast. The croissants that he usually loves lie untouched on his plate, his stomach turning in on itself.

 

After a few minutes, Chanyeol pipes up. "What's wrong, Baek?" Of course he had noticed, he always did when it came to Baekhyun.

 

"Nothing," the shorter forces a smile, but Chanyeol's not convinced. "My stomach just hurts a bit, that's all."

 

In an instant he's lifted off the ground, Chanyeol's hands soft despite his strength under Baekhyun's weakening body. "You'll rest today." The smaller is too tired to argue, so just nods instead. Chanyeol lays a kiss to his forehead before setting him on the bed, tucking him into the covers. "I'll be back in a few hours," he says, starting to move away.

 

The hand pulling his sleeve back suggests otherwise. "Please don't leave," Baekhyun whimpers. Chanyeol's resolve almost shatters then and there, but he has to stay firm.

 

"I have to, Baekhyun. The Consul has summoned me. I'm already in enough trouble with them as it is, I'm not going to add attendance issues to the list." Seeing Baekhyun's dejected face, he gently squeezes the fingers still wrapped around his wrist with his other hand. "I'll be back soon, Baek. Don't worry."

 

He lets go of Baekhyun's hand and walks swiftly away, back disappearing behind the corner, and Baekhyun fights, sleep as his weapon, the fear that the planes of his shoulderblades will be his last memory of him.

 

If it hadn't been for the chloroform swiftly held to his mouth, he could have mistaken the window shattering right next to his bed as part of a nightmare.

-

Chanyeol enters the room, giving the members of the Consul a full bow before making his way forward to the seat they'd prepared for him. "You summoned me, Lord Jung?" The man, dressed in the planet's finest robes, quickly gestures with a gold adorned hand for Chanyeol to sit, and so he does.

 

"Yes, we did," Jung Yunho begins. "You see Captain Park, I know for a fact that our agent Wu Yifan delivered a correspondence to you on 151112. Is that correct?"

 

Chanyeol has to strain his ears as the last few words are uttered, and he wonders whether Yunho had started mumbling or whether he was just too tired. "Yes," he replies, and his voice comes out more raspy than usual - he thinks he ought to drink something as soon as the meeting ends.

 

"Then you would know what we expected of you. You must remember you are an example to our people, and kindness of any sort towards a human is a weakness." Chanyeol basically has to lip-read at this point, all sound in his ears muffled bar a rhythmic, high-pitched chime. "My dear friend Lord Shim tells me you are still being sympathetic towards your toy. What you do in private is not our business, but in public it can't and won't be tolerated."

 

He opens his mouth, tries to get the words "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," from his lips, but nothing comes out. His lungs are suddenly gasping for air, and his limbs won't work. By instinct he tries desperately to start a flame on his palm, but all that happens is the ringing in his ears grows in volume and frequency, until it's a buzz of feedback grating against his brain.

 

He's tired, so tired, and yet his heart is beating faster than ever, fear crashing into him in waves as his body shuts down. But he can't think about that - all he wants to do is sleep. He's so exhausted he almost forgets that Yunho is not only the planet's most powerful mind-reader, but also a trained mind-bender; almost misses him uttering a silent "it's too late for that now, Captain Park," before his eyelids droop closed.

 

**151224  
4 Months After Invasion**

 

When Baekhyun wakes up, it's like deja vu. Again, he's in what looks like a cell, sunlight streaming through a tiny barred window in the topmost corner of the wall. But this time, he's on a linen bed, not the height of luxury but not the treatment most humans receive either. There are no injuries on his body, and he's still wearing what he was when he went to bed.

 

This factor acts as a wake-up call, urging him into a sitting position. "Hello?" He speaks up warily, afraid of the repercussions if he had been recaptured by the Essem, for whatever reason.

 

There's a few minutes of silence before anything happens, but Baekhyun senses the presence of other people, deliberating what to say, what to do. Finally, one steps out. She's a tall woman, her hair in a flattering honey-brown bob, skin flawless and glowing. Just by looking at her, it's easy to tell that she's an Essem, inside and out. Baekhyun tenses.

 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Her voice is kind and she has a distinct Gwangju accent, but he's still not convinced. "Here, I'll prove it. Soojung-ah!" After a few moments, the shorter woman steps out, looking at ease. Baekhyun feels a wave of relief wash over him, but it's soon followed by confusion.

 

"Soojung, where are we? And who is she? I don't understand, I was kidnap-"

 

"Rescued, Baekhyun, you were rescued," the mystery woman interrupts, and Baekhyun stops, mouth slightly open. "The Phoenix, or Chanyeol, as you call him, was arrested at the Consulate today for breaching what they consider the Essem code of conduct. Privately, of course. If the news went public it would be a PR disaster."

 

His mind is reeling. Nothing makes sense anymore, and it's threatening to overwhelm him the way it did when the invasion first happened, all those months ago. As the brunette continues to speak, he feels like his list of questions is just getting longer, rather than being answered at all. "But where is he? And why are we here? Who are you?"

 

The lady laughs, more like a cackles, but it's not malicious-sounding, just that she naturally sounds like that. "My name is Choi Sooyoung," she begins. "I'm an ex-field agent for the Essem and a current member of the Resistance." Seeing the look on Baekhyun's face, she chuckles again. "I'll explain that later. But onto your other questions. The Phoenix is being detained somewhere, probably up near the North-South border, or even in Pyongyang. In the height of luxury, but detained nevertheless. Sounds startlingly like your situation for the past few months," she lets out a dry laugh. Baekhyun thinks she laughs too much. "As for you, you're here because the same people who took the Phoenix later raided his house with the intent of capturing, if not killing, his humans. We got to you before they did, because you see, Baekhyun, it is very important to keep you, in particular, alive."

 

Baekhyun assumes she'll explain what she means later. "What about the others?"

 

She scrunches her eyebrows in confusion for a second before raising them. It reminds him a lot of Chanyeol, and he wonders if it's something Essem all do. "If you mean the other slaves in your household, they're fine," she assures him. "Yixing put up a little resistance but it wasn't too hard to subdue him."

 

He tries to ignore the implications of what she just said, tilting his head towards his friend down the corridor instead. "And Soojung?"

 

"Come back here, princess," the Essem gestures down the hall for the young girl to join them, and when she does she's smiling softly. Sooyoung slings her arm around Soojung's shoulder like they've known each other for years, and Baekhyun looks at her questioningly. 

 

"Oh, I forgot to say," Soojung laughs. "Sooyoung was one of my sister's closest friends. She was even a bridesmaid at her wedding."

 

Baekhyun catches a slight dimming in the Essem's eyes at the mention of the sister, but decides not to question it.

-

The complex in which they're residing is an old underground military base, seemingly renovated over several years after abandonment by the Essem sleepers for this very purpose. It's not much, and there's little to no contact with the outside world at any given moment, but it's a place that the Consul doesn't know about.

 

There are quite a few humans staying there besides Baekhyun - runaways, he finds out. Some are ex-slaves, while others managed to get themselves to the city from the Essem-run farms on the countryside. The cruelty faced by them, he hears, makes what domestic slaves go through seem like nothing. One girl had lost a finger when she failed to carry out orders, and that, according to her, was a light punishment.

 

Baekhyun does not leave his room most of the time. He doesn't like hearing whispers every time he walks into a room, about how he's just a whore for the Essem man who caused the fall of humanity in the first place. Most of his fellow humans consider him a traitor.

 

Sometimes, Soojung will visit him in his room, or Minseok. It seems Jonghyun has been reunited with some friend of his, so he rarely visits. A couple of times Yixing just swings by to see how he's doing, though this happens less and less. Baekhyun hears he's becoming heavily involved in the rebellious movement.

 

On one rare day where Baekhyun leaves his room, he happens across a secluded area he hasn't seen before whilst exploring the halls. The door is slightly open, and he's about to go in, but then a female cry in a familiar voice stops him dead in his tracks.

 

"Did you get Junmyeon?"

 

Sooyoung sighs. "We've been trying, but you have to know he's owned by one of the most powerful, ruthless Essem there is; he stays in arguably the best-guarded house outside the consulate grounds. We don't want to try anything recklessly and put him at risk."

 

The human girl kneels before her, long brown locks obscuring her face but not her despair. After a moment with a conflicted expression, Sooyoung crouches to her level, smoothing out her hair.

 

"I know it's hard but just hold on. I'll get him for you if it's the last thing I do. Your sister wouldn't have wanted you to be unhappy like this."

 

The younger falls into even deeper sobs, and the Essem collects her in her embrace, long limbs stretching easily over her shaking body, looking fragile in the short seconds Soojung's face isn't on hers. Baekhyun turns silently and walks off, feeling like he's been too invasive already.

-

When Chanyeol wakes up, he knows immediately that something is wrong. He has a headache, something he rarely ever has; on top of that, as his eyes come into focus, he realizes quickly that he isn't in his room, and when he stretches his arm next to him, all that meets his hand are empty bedsheets. Sitting up quickly, he feels a stinging pain at the base of his neck, and reaching around to feel it, his eyes widen in shock.

 

He had heard stories, when crime was still abundant among the Essem back in the primitive days of his species, of how powers could be controlled. He had only heard of the device clasped around his neck, recalling them from his classes when he was around 7 on the ship to Earth, which stimulate pain receptors whenever one tried to use their powers. Chanyeol rubs his index finger and thumb together lightly and feels the jolt collapse his nerves at once. It has to be other Essem behind this, humans simply did not know of the only technology that can overpower them. If anything, the Consul wouldn't allow them to know.

 

About five minutes fill the space between Chanyeol's waking and the door opening. "Captain Park, we are here to serve you dinner," the young staff smile at him. Surprisingly, despite being mere service people, both are tall, carrying with them the distinct gait of Essem trained their whole lives for this. With a courteous smile and no more words spoken, they arrange the food on the little table at the foot of the bed, and leave swiftly.

 

Barely eating some of the fruit they'd laid out and ignoring the rest, he thinks back and tries to remember what happened. All he knows is it's something to do with the Consul, and that Baekhyun is probably still waiting for him somewhere.

 

 _Baekhyun_. Just the memory of his name makes his heart ache. The overwhelming urge to see him has Chanyeol closing his eyes and lying back on the bed. It's clear that he himself has been arrested, but he can't bring himself to care when Baekhyun could potentially be in danger.

 

Once again he flicks his fingers together, feels the sting jab straight into his brainstem. It hurts, but the pain soon fades. The dull ache in his chest remains.

-

"I understand you'll have some questions, Baekhyun," Sooyoung smiles, her hand firm on Baekhyun's shoulder. He still isn't entirely comfortable around Essem other than Chanyeol, but he is growing accustomed to a few. "You're not the only one, so my brother is holding a briefing on what we're about. He likes to talk a lot but don't let that put you off too much."

 

Baekhyun nods, opening the door to the room he'd been guided to slowly, trying not to make a sound. It's all in vain, though, because as soon as he shuffles in, there's about thirty pairs of eyes on him and a sea of whispers suddenly emerging. Amongst the crowd, he catches a few familiar faces, even the boy who fought Kyungsoo all that time ago. He briefly holds back the urge to vomit.

 

"Friends! Please, settle down. If everyone's here, I would like to start the presentation," the tan Essem at the front says, before clicking a small black pointer. The projector screen turns on. In bold white letters, the words _The Resistance Movement_ stand out against a plain black powerpoint slide. "My name is Choi Minho, lead operative of the Resistance Movement. Today I'm going to explain some of what we do any why we do it. Please save all your questions until the end."

 

The slide flicks on, with various photos from the past, the Ancient Egyptians to the more recent dictatorships of the world. "Essem are born ruthless. We grow up knowing that our kind is the most powerful to exist and believing that we must exercise it over others. We are raised wanting to be the best, even if it means putting others down in the process. That is where we differ from humans."

 

"They teach you to work together, that democracy is the best policy. With us, that doesn't happen. Lord Jung and Lord Shim," a slide showing two men, at most in their early thirties, "the two senior-most members of the consulate, left their three closest comrades to suffer, while they took on these roles. The cases of this gross competitiveness in human history are nine times out of ten actually Essem sleepers on Earth. You are generally a compassionate species, some of it learned, but most innate. The only thing you lack is tolerance to anything different."

 

"The biggest common thread between the Essem members of the resistance movement is that we were all sleepers," a big picture of several Essem and humans, Minho and Sooyoung among them, taking a selfie at Lotte World, "We spent years on Earth with humans, some of us longer than we did among our own kind. So we learned," Minho faces the audience directly. "We became more human the longer we stayed. And despite our training, we started to see the flaws in the way we were raised, too."

 

He faces the class. A lot of the humans look surprised, some on-board with him and some still unconvinced. "We believe it's possible to coexist. We've been doing so up until now, and we want our species to continue, as allies instead of masters. There are things we can teach each other - humans can teach us democracy, we can teach them racial, gender and sexuality-based tolerance. It'll take a lot of effort, but we're here to make a start."

 

A few hands go up, and Minho seems to expect them. He points to one, and the whole class turns to look. It's the idol boy, looking confused. "How do you plan on doing this? The Consul has people everywhere. And you said that only sleepers feel this way, how will you get the rest of the population to understand?"

 

Minho nods, but barely looks contemplative, as if he's answered these questions a thousand times before. "Well first-off, there are more of us than you think; we have recruits in every corner of the world. Remember, most sleepers are in on this, and there are a lot of us." He smiles, before looking serious again. "Although we want to stay as non-violent as far as possible, if push comes to shove we have enough force to fight. But war will only lead to loss of more human lives - they'll just send humans in as walking bombs-" a few gasps sound around the room. "How we want to operate is through intelligence and propaganda. The Essem are a very indecisive species, and are easily swayed. That's how the Consul keep such tight control over them. But if we have someone they trust highlight the flaws in the system, we may be in with a chance."

 

He strides around the room, handing a sheet of paper to each human there individually. Despite the large number, he's able to do this surprisingly fast. He stops in front of Baekhyun, who stares at the paper, confused. "What is this?"

 

"It's a contract. Sign and you'll be inducted into our circle officially. I know it may sound risky but keep in mind that signing that paper extends our protection to you globally." Baekhyun can hear a few of the humans signing already, while others read the paper carefully.

 

He spots the idol from the corner of his eye, scanning the page with his brows furrowed. "I can't just decide on the spot," Baekhyun says, turning back to Minho, "I need time to think."

 

"That's fine, we understand it's a great ask. Though we'd normally want to give you more time to think, unfortunately we have important operations scheduled for Wednesday, so we can only give you until tomorrow. Until then, I hope you consider your options carefully, Baekhyun."

 

"You know my name?"

 

Minho laughs, and the whole room's attention is brought back to him. "Of course. You're the Phoenix's favourite, who _doesn't_ know your name."

 

He glances at his watch before he hurries off quickly, but still firm. All in all, he's a strange character in Baekhyun's eyes - and Sooyoung was right, he does talk a lot.

-

Solitary confinement is not the worst thing that's ever happened to Chanyeol. When the invasion was in progress, he had to use his powers under duress several times, and the fatigue he would feel afterwards was the most physically painful thing he had ever experienced.

 

But he had been trained for that, he had been prepared. A healer was available almost straight after the simultaneous shutdown of every nation's respective government office, mostly because they had taken up jobs as government officials in preparation for this very purpose. The pain was searing, but it didn't last.

 

An overwhelming sense of loneliness, however, lingers over Chanyeol's mind like deadweight. Alone with just his thoughts, a few copies of some Essem-propaganda publications he has no interest in reading, and the three neatly-presented meals he receives each day, things begin to go numb. He misses Baekhyun with every fibre of his being, but that pain is so constant at this point that it's basically background noise. Sometimes, he brushes his fingers together again, just to feel that shattering jolt of pain, just to feel _something_.

 

It's past midnight. Chanyeol lies in bed, without pillows, staring up at the ceiling. He knows what the Consul want: they want him to slowly lose his mind, eventually ending up a thoughtless puppet with which they can amplify their commands. He is the Phoenix, after all: the icon and patriot. He wonders whether his people would still view him as a hero if they could see him in this state. He himself gave up on that image long ago.

 

**160107  
5 Months After Invasion**

 

"I'm glad you've made this choice, Baekhyun."

 

The human gives him a look. "There wasn't really any other option, was there."

 

"No, not really," Minho laughs again. It's loud, yet completely distinct from his sister's. "But this way, you can help your kind restore Earth to what it was. And that includes getting Chanyeol back."

 

Baekhyun's attention is caught with just the utterance of his name, and Minho smiles down at him. He must be really predictable, he chastises himself.

 

"Contrary to how Consul members treat him, the majority of Essem absolutely adore Chanyeol. They eat up whatever he says. If he talks about the mental and physical torture they've put him through in the past few days-"

 

"What?" Baekhyun swears his heart stops, and the Essem looks sympathetic but keeps talking, always seeming to be in a rush.

 

"-there will surely be a coup in a matter of days, fuelled by the people's love for him. He's the greatest asset we have. Not to mention, I miss him too."

 

Baekhyun's ears are still ringing at the thought of Chanyeol in a bloody mess, but it slows at the last sentence. He forgets, sometimes, that Chanyeol means something to other people too. Maybe not as much as he does to him, but definitely enough to hurt when he's gone.

 

Minho is watching Baekhyun, analytical. For once, he's not talking, and with his silence Baekhyun sees age in him, experience far exceeding his youth. This man had fought, and seen the worst. A light scar paces just under his right eye, and Baekhyun knows that was more than likely a shot intending to blind, if not kill him. It's not entirely clear whether it was fired by an Essem or a human - Baekhyun doesn't bother asking.

 

"He'll be fine," Minho says, finally ending the silence, in a compassionate tone that reminded him so much of Sooyoung comforting Soojung that day. "He's a strong guy. We're sending some people in to get him out of there tonight. I'm going too. But there's a mission we need you for, Baekhyun, and it can only be you. Please trust us on this."

 

He still hesitates, because trusting is what led him into this mess in the first place, and now he finds himself questioning everything. But then he focuses, sees the strain behind those sharp eyes, and then draws back, vaguely noticing Soojung entering the room, looking genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.

 

"I will," he says, and it's the most assured two syllables he's said in his whole life.

-

Hell on Earth, it turns out, looks like off-white walls and folder paper serviettes.

 

Chanyeol is past breaking point. He barely stomachs food, opting to sleep all day instead of having to think while awake. But when insomnia gets to him, it pushes him over the edge.

 

The pain to his brain stem is blinding, but it's something to distract him from all the other thoughts running rampant in his mind. He grips the vice around his neck, the brace almost choking him as he continues to let the flames burst from his fingertips. The metal starts to melt lightly under his touch.

 

His eyes snap open.

 

It doesn't take long to engulf the room in flames, it's soft fabric furnishings easily turned to nothing. The jolts are causing him convulsions now, but he keeps going, grip desperate on the soft titanium. Baekhyun is just out of reach, he thinks, and nothing can stop him from doing what he was meant to, ever since he first saw him.

 

As soon as the clasp loosens and Chanyeol's muscles relax, the fatigue washes over him. The room continues to go up in flames even as he blacks out.

-

With every second ticking by, Baekhyun feels his nerves on fire. When they detailed the mission out to him, it didn't seem too difficult compared to what he had faced during the invasion; but as the moment draws closer, so his fear increases.

 

There are light footsteps outside his room, and then a pause. When he looks up, the idol is there, eyes on him but looking reserved.

 

"I'm sorry. About your friend."

 

Baekhyun feels the air catch in his throat. He hadn't stopped thinking about that day since it happened, nightmares often plaguing him. More than once he'd screamed himself awake, and Chanyeol had been there, holding onto him tightly despite his thrashing, breathing comforting words into the back of his neck.

 

"We stayed at the same camp before the fight. He was very kind." The man is obviously struggling for words, clearly uncomfortable with the way Baekhyun just sits there wordlessly. He looks at the floor, fidgeting with his hands. Baekhyun guesses he's probably a year or two younger than him. Just a kid, really, and he'd had to kill with his own two hands; it's then that he realizes that even though Kyungsoo was his friend, the trauma he'd faced could never compare to the boy standing in front of him now. "I know that me apologizing won't make things better but I needed to get it off my chest."

 

"Stop."

 

The younger boy freezes, eyes blown wide with fear that he may have offended him, may have gone too far. Baekhyun looks at him, in silence. He's exhausted, and he's tired of holding grudges.

 

"You don't need to apologize. If Kyungsoo was still alive, he wouldn't want you to." Jongin blinks at him when he pats the space next to him on his bed. After a moment, he sits down, still looking wary. "We've all done some things we're ashamed of. You did what you had to do to survive." Baekhyun feels tears well up, but he holds them back. "Thank you for ending his suffering. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

 

The idol is quiet, pensive. "No, thank you... And tell the Phoenix thanks as well. If it hadn't been for his decision I wouldn't have been taken to the victor's parade which I escaped from. I'm indebted to him."

 

Baekhyun considers him with wide eyes. "You don't hate him? He triggered the downfall of humanity, it's an understandable opinion."

 

"He did what he had to do to survive," Jongin says, smiling slightly. "I can't blame him for that."

-

The human recruits are horrified. As they approached the building with their Essem guides, smoke had begun pouring out of the windows, a towering inferno raging inside. Their plans to disable the security system, sneak in and smuggle Chanyeol out, have gone to waste. They turn to one of the Essem leaders, looking for a solution.

 

"That clever bastard," is all Minho says, before kicking through a window and vaulting himself in.

-

The mission is simple enough. The security systems had all already been hacked, as had the cameras and the broadcasting equipment. All Baekhyun has to do is get inside, and talk.

 

Picking the lock the way he'd been trained by one of the human recruits, he slowly opens the backdoor of the studio. It was a big complex, but Baekhyun vaguely recalls Jongin explaining the layout of the place to him. He is currently backstage, and after a couple short stairs, he's on stage.

 

On the camera, he plugs a small device about the size of a pen drive into the USB stick. After a moment or two, the camera started flashing a red light.

 

"On air, Baekhyun, we are on air." Minho's voice is devoid of feedback in his earpiece. "You're currently live on every television on the planet. Give us your best."

-

The television is playing in the background, and there are other voices in his room too. They all sound incredibly stressed, and he hears a few pacing footsteps amongst the jumble of noise. His eyes feel too groggy when he tries to open them, so he quickly gives up.

 

"Hello, everyone. My name is Byun Baekhyun."

 

Chanyeol pushes himself up immediately, straining muscles in his back but ignoring the worried cries of those around his bed.

 

"You may know me as Park Chanyeol's slave, or toy, or slut. Different people have different ideas about who I am to him and who he is to me. I just wanted to say, you're all right."

 

If Chanyeol was paying attention to anything but the screen, he'd notice how all the eyes in the room swing to look at him, but he's too occupied with the words Baekhyun has just said. He feels at a sudden loss for air, and there's so much fumbling around him he almost doesn't catch the rest.

 

"On paper, you are right. My body has belonged to Chanyeol since the invasion, just like any other slave on this planet belongs to their master." He pauses, and Chanyeol is gripping the sheets so tightly they begin to tear between his fingers.

 

"But the difference here, is that my heart and my mind have belonged to him far before he became the Phoenix. I may be his slave legally, but he belongs as much to me as I do to him."

 

It's as if a sudden wave of water overcame him, but suddenly the Essem hero doesn't feel so tired anymore. All he knows I'd that he longs to be with the love of his life again, his other half.

 

His attention is brought back to the screen when the image suddenly gets distorted, accompanied by a high-pitched sound. "That's cute, Baekhyun," a familiar voice says, off-screen, and Chanyeol stands immediately, reaching for his jacket and heading towards the door.

 

By the time he's slammed the door behind him, the only thing visible on the screen are the human's hands clasped behind his back, an arm held tightly around his neck.

-

"Did you really think you could get away from us so easily? Both master and slave are so ridiculously naive. But I can see why he keeps you around," Baekhyun struggles in vain as the Essem trails a finger along his jaw. "It must be fun to play with a toy so pretty."

 

"Let him go, Yifan." A known voice sounds from the darkness. The Consul member sighs frustatedly and turns around, still holding the human in a headlock.

 

"It's nice to see you again after so long, Minho." He grins, regarding the other male slowly before settling back on his face. "How's your eye doing?"

 

Minho doesn't flinch. "Leave him the fuck alone, Yifan."

 

"I'm just trying to be polite, and this is how you treat me? Earth really does change you. I guess I'm glad I didn't go now, if this is what it turns you into." He twists Baekhyun's arm behind his back and laughs when the other Essem reaches an arm out at his yelp. "Honestly, feeling pity for a human? Well, I guess it's good in some ways. At least we can single out the weak ones in our kind now."

 

"The only weak one here is you, Yifan," another voice says, and Baekhyun's heart stops.

 

Out of the shadows steps another figure, one known the world over. Once again, Baekhyun witnesses the end-product of a transformation: deep bags hang under his eyes, his skin is pallid and his hair wiry. But his pupils burn a fiery black, more potent than ever, enough to eviscerate someone with just a glance. Minho looks surprised to see him, but Yifan stands still as if this was expected.

 

"You constantly need to validate your power by harnessing it on others, and yet you always follow the orders of those above you because you fear punishment." Chanyeol scoffs but his eyes stay lethal. "You're the weakest man I know."

 

The taller seems indifferent, but Baekhyun can feel his latch on his throat shake slightly before tightening up, blocking off his airways. "I'd be more careful with your words, Park. It would be a pity if Baekhyun met with a fall, you know."

 

"You wouldn't dare," Chanyeol leers, flames lighting up his palms. 

 

"Go ahead, Park." Yifan smirks when he twists Baekhyun's head slightly and the other's embers grow even larger. "If you try to hurt me you'll hurt your little toy here too." Chanyeol tells out in frustration, but lowers his hands. "As for you, Minho, I suspect you won't be stopping the clock anytime soon. You're still tired out from that mission a few hours ago, aren't you?"

 

The scarred man stands there, arms crossed and frowning.

 

"You really think your petty little fussing is going to change things around here?" He gestures his head to the right, where a small red light is still blinking atop the camera. "The people will want to stay on the winning side, and that's the Consul. The great Phoenix evidently isn't much of a hero, if he's letting his own toy play him like this." He puts his fingers to Baekhyun's lips, and the human proceeds to try and bite him. "What an absolute brat," he spits, before landing a slap across Baekhyun's face. The human's mouth bleeds slightly as he had but down the inside of his cheek, but he warbles out a warning when Chanyeol takes two steps forward. "Not so fast, Park," Yifan grins, now hovering a few centimetres above ground, holding a choking Baekhyun by the neck. "Look at you. The great Phoenix reduced to ashes by a human, of all things. What a shameful excuse for an Essem you are. Pathetic-"

 

Suddenly the man loses balance, losing his grip on Baekhyun long enough for the human to escape and Chanyeol to pull him to safety. Before the Consul representative has the chance to stabilize himself enough to lash back, a titanium collar is forced around his neck, clasping automatically, by a silhouette just outside the spotlight. Yifan is writhing in agony on the floor by the time anyone speaks up.

 

"Thank you, Sooyoung." Chanyeol says, panting as he holds Baekhyun close to him.

 

"I've made my promises too, Chanyeol." She hugs him tightly. "Thank you for taking care of Soojung. She pats Baekhyun on the head softly before almost fully collapsing onto her brother, the strain of teleporting such a long distance finally taking its toll on her.

 

The Essem kneels down to examine his human's wounds. The bleeding has started to slow, but there are bruises on his neck and chest. Despite himself, Chanyeol clings closer to him. "I'm sorry I let this happen. I shouldn't have been so careless, I-"

 

Baekhyun kisses him, and his lips taste metallic. "You did what you had to, and so did I." He stands, still slow. "Besides, you still swooped in to save the day in the end."

 

Chanyeol kisses him this time, and Baekhyun questions how he could ever have been disgusted by the prospect. Now he doesn't know how he could ever live without it.

 

As they begin to leave, Baekhyun turns back briefly. "What about Yifan?"

 

"We leave him," Chanyeol says without looking back. "It'd be a risk to carry him around with us, and since those collars can usually only be opened by retinal scan, I very much doubt the Consul would have any use for a powerless Essem." Baekhyun represses a flinch at Chanyeol's harsh words. This is the way things will have to be now, and he simply has to adapt.

 

"Quickly," whispers Minho, rushing them out. "The Consul likely have people surrounding the building already, but we can still make it out through here," he points to a small door that seems to lead to the basement. "Junmyeon was able to be rescued during the confrontation earlier, Soojung and him will greet us on the other side." Sooyoung smiles slightly at this. 

 

Baekhyun nods, following Chanyeol through the exit. His earpiece starts to crackle slightly underground before the words become clear.

 

"There's riots happening in the farms in Incheon and Busan, as well as city marches in Seoul and some parts of Tokyo and China. More are expected once the broadcast hits Europe. It's happening, Baekhyun. We're getting our home back."

 

He can't help but smile at Jongin's enthusiasm, even as his connection fades out of focus. Looking up he sees the love of his life, walking with purpose even as the world around him seems so confused again. It won't be safe for them out there, it likely never will, and fear still plagues his mind. "What are we going to do, Chanyeol?"

 

The Essem, as always, seems to read his mind. "I don't know, Baek," he says, just as they get to the end of the tunnel, Minho twisting the handle with one hand while the other still supports Sooyoung. "But we're gonna be okay."

 

There's a flight of stairs leading to an escape hatch. Baekhyun vaguely hears Jongin say something about the humans abandoning the bunker to help the fight above ground, so when he looks up, he's not sure what lies beyond the door anymore. Chanyeol isn't either, he can feel it in the way his grip stays tight around his hand.

 

"We will," Baekhyun smiles, giving his fingers a reassuring squeeze. He doesn't know how true it is; but when he's with Chanyeol, as always, he wants to believe.

 

Together, they take their first step into the new world.

**Author's Note:**

> Mods' Notes: During the duration of BAE2016, we're kindly asking you to leave your reviews on [Livejournal](http://baeconandeggs.livejournal.com/32995.html). Thank you for reading!♥


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